A New Beginning
by Yukie666
Summary: Naru finally made a decision, one that Keitaro didn't expect. Now suffering because of it, can he begin a new chapter in his life? Will he be able to move on?


Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina. Ken A. does so don't sue me.

A Fresh beginning

----

'Tonight is going to be one of those nights' Mitsune the "Kitsune" Konno thought to herself as she made her way back to the inn. The night started out simple enough. She was to go on a date with an acquaintance of a friend and have a good time. While she did end up having a good time, it ended when the man she was with tried to cop a feel.

"He going to be nursing those broken fingers for awhile isn't he," she said to herself as she walked, "the bastard got what he deserved."

Soon she was at the step of the Hinata-sou. Her home for the last five years. With a sigh she began the long climb to the inn. When she made it, she entered as quietly as possible. She didn't want to disturb any of the other residents with her entrance. Finding no one to be awake, she shut and locked the door then made her way to her room. As she climbed the stairs to the second floor she noticed she wasn't the only one up at this ungodly hour. She could see a light coming from Keitaro's room. She walked over to his door and stole a quick peek of the inside. There, laying on his futon, was Keitaro. Kitsune could see that he wasn't asleep, but she could sense the mood of the room. Keitaro was in no mood for company.

Kitsune watched him for a minute or so before she decided that she needed to get to bed. Keitaro was in no shape to talk to, and she could feel sleep beginning to edge into her mind. She shut his door and walked to her room. Once inside she quickly changed into her night clothes. Which consisted of a pair a panties and a shirt she snagged from Keitaro. When she was finished she flopped down onto her bed and stared out the window. Soon she was fast asleep.

----

Meanwhile as Kitsune slept, her neighbor was still awake. His thoughts never gave him a chance to sleep comfortably. He replayed the past over and over in his head. It always ended the same way too. He thought about his last trip he took and how it ended. His kid sister showed up and did her damnedest to drive a wedge between Naru and himself. In the end she had succeeded. Keitaro chased the woman that he thought he was in love with all over Japan, and in the end the truth came out. He had cornered Naru on the northernmost edge of Japan. It should of showed her how much she meant to him, but she decided to break his heart right there. Keitaro would remember that scene till the day he died.

----

"Naru it's time to stop running," Keitaro said calmly as he walked up to her.

"Why do you keep following me?" the girl asked, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Because I love, I don't know how many times I've told you, but I'll say it again," Keitaro reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring, "I'm here because I love you."

"How can you say it so simply?" the girl screamed at him.

"Look Naru, Kanako returned the ring to me. We can finally fulfill the promise we made to each other," Keitaro was now standing next to the woman he loved.

"Keitaro I'm sorry."

"Hmm?" he looked at her, something had changed in her demeanor.

"Keitaro, the thing is," she stopped talking for a moment and stared Keitaro in the eye, "I don't love you."

Keitaro couldn't believe what he had heard. It couldn't possibly be true. He had traveled over half the world with this woman. He did everything within his power to help her, and now she was telling him that she didn't love him.

"You can't be serious. I mean we've kissed, we've done other things. How can you say that you don't love me?"

"I can say it because I finally realized my feelings. While I thought I held a place in my heart for you. I realized it was a place fit for a friend. Not for someone seeking a serious relationship."

When she finished, Naru turned and walked away. Leaving Keitaro standing there in a shocked state. Keitaro stood there for a moment then began to turn to call out to Naru. It was then when he felt the ground fall from underneath his feet. Keitaro could only a remember a little bit after. He remembered a lot of pain and blood. That and the screaming of Motoko from above.

Keitaro woke up a week later in a hospital bed surrounded by his tenant minus one. Naru wasn't there. He was told later that she left the Hinata-sou the day after he was admitted, leaving behind a note saying she was moving out and a check for owed rent.

----

Keitaro just stared at the ceiling of his room. He had heard Mitsune coming home and knew she had watched him for a few minutes before she headed to bed. He let out a sigh before grasping at something around his neck. He held the ring out to stare at it for a bit. He wasn't sure why he decided to keep the damn thing but he couldn't bear to throw it away. Keitaro could feel a lone tear making it's way down his face. Keitaro quickly wiped it from his face and returned the ring under his shirt. After that he tried to get some rest, but this night, like so many others. Wouldn't allow sleep to come easy, but for Keitaro the battle didn't last long. Exhaustion won out, rewarding Keitaro a few hours of some rest.

----

It was five in the morning when the alarm gave it's signal to start the day. It continued for minute before it was slashed in two by a sword. Motoko decided to lay in her bed for a few minutes before deciding to get up. Her back audibly popped as she stretched and changed into her training outfit. When she was finished, she left her room and made her way to the roof. There she spotted someone leaving the grounds. Upon closer inspection she realized that it was Keitaro. Early in the morning, or late at night would be the only time any of the tenants would catch a glimpse of their manager. During the rest of the day he would stay locked in his room. Only leaving to use the restroom. After those few times, and some work done on his side of the inn. He wouldn't even leave then. Motoko assumed that he had some new facilities installed.

Motoko also noted that Urashima was in what appeared to be jogging clothes. 'He must run to ease his problems. I'm glad he found an outlet for his feelings' Motoko thought to herself as she began her morning ritual.

----

The streets were deserted at this time. Something that Keitaro was grateful for. He didn't like having people around. Occasionally he would come across someone out for a morning stroll, but they usually left him alone. One would have to be an idiot not to sense the uneasiness Keitaro seemed to exude as he ran. Soon the sounds of morning could be heard as birds began to wake and announce their presence to the world. Keitaro paid them no mind, all he wanted to do was run. Running seemed to help him forget the pain in his heart, something Keitaro enjoyed greatly.

Glancing at his wrist watch he noticed that it was a quarter to six. Time for him to head back to the inn. Stopping at a vending machine to pick up a bottle of water, which he quickly finished. When he was done he turned back and started his jog back home.

----

The sun was beaming through Kitsune's window. Forcing her to wake up at a much earlier time than she had hoped for. Grunting she rolled over and drew the comforter over head, trying to milk a few a more minutes of sleep, but in the end the sun won out. Grunting as she lifted herself from her bed she made her way to the window.

"I need to get some goddamn blinds one of these days."

After talking to herself, she looked out the window. The sun had risen a bit farther, causing everything to be bathed in a pleasant light. She stretched slightly while eliciting a yawn. As she stretched she noticed a peculiar odor. Stopping to sniff her shirt a bit, she noticed that it reeked of alcohol. 'Must of sweat it out as I slept' Kitsune thought to herself.

"God I could use a shower," Kitsune told herself.

She didn't feel like going out to the outdoor bath. In actuality she didn't feel like properly preparing herself to take a soak. After scratching an itch on her butt, Kitsune decided to go on a little mission. There was only one true shower in the inn, but to get it would take all the cunning that she possessed. Creeping quietly she left her room and made her way to the next one over. As she slid the door opened she made sure to look for signs of the occupant. Finding none, she entered the room. She had snooped around Keitaro's room before, but what she found now totally surprised her. While Keitaro was one to usually keep things immaculate when it came to his room. It now laid in a state of disarray.

There was containers of instant food lying all around. Piles of clothing were in all four corners of the room. The only thing that looked clean was the futon that Keitaro left out. While Kitsune was in no matter a clean freak, her room could attest for this, seeing Keitaro's room like this left her with a bad feeling. After glancing around a few more times, she made her way over to the other door, 'this should take me to his private bathroom' Kitsune thought to herself. What was in the next room was a shock for her.

While the other was a mess, this one was immaculate. Turns out it wasn't the bathroom she had expected but a study. Covering most of the walls were bookcase filled with books. Where there was a spot on the wall, it was covered by posters. Most from movies but there was a couple of what Kitsune assumed to be American bands. As Kitsune entered she noticed something in the air. The inside smelled of cherries and something else that she couldn't quite place. Whatever it was it gave a pleasant aroma adding to the atmosphere of the room. Kitsune walked in further noticing a chair with a small table placed next to a stereo with a turn table. Next to it laid a box of records. Kitsune picked up one of the records, pulling it from it's brown paper covering. The album cover had what appeared a really feminine looking man, with two blue dog/women things behind him. She could understand a little bit of English and made out what appeared to be the name.

"Dah-vid Bo-wie?" She said out loud as returned the album back to the chest.

She decided to have a seat in the chair next to the record player. As she sat she could feel herself sink into the chair, the upholstery wrapping itself around her body. 'Oh god this chair feels so wonderful, it makes my couch look like a park bench' she thought as she wiggled herself a bit deeper into the chair. Sitting there she peered at the table next to the chair. On it sat an ashtray with a pack of little cigars. 'I didn't know Keitaro smoked?' Kitsune picked up the pack and read it.

"Blackstone"

Kitsune fished out one of the cigars. Staring it over for a moment before drawing it under her nose. She could smell cherry coming off of it. 'Must of been these that give this room that wonderful smell' she thought to herself. She caught a whiff of herself again as she sat there.

"I think it's time to do what I came here for."

Kitsune pulled herself out of the chair and made her way to the door that hopefully lead to Keitaro's personal bathroom. The next room indeed was his bathroom, and what a bathroom it was. The whole thing was black down to the toilet and the sink. The walls were finished in black tile, and while it lacked a bathtub the shower made up for it. It seemed to take up a quarter of the room. Kitsune was enamored with it. 'God I can't wait to get in it!' Not wanting to wait a minute longer she quickly stripped and jumped into it. She turned one of the handles only to be blasted with cold water.

"Jesus Christ!" she yelped as she jumped out of the cool stream.

Quickly she turned the handle to the next one, causing hot water to mix with the cold. Another turn resulted in the water warming up. After a minute or so of playing with the handles she got the water to the point where she liked it. Not quite burning, but hot enough to be soothing. Once the water was ready she looked to find something to wash herself. Finding what appeared to be a bar of soap in the recess of the wall. Picking it up, she gave it a quick sniff. It seemed to have a clean, rather masculine smell to it. She held it under the water for a moment to get the suds started. As she began to rub it over her body, she squeezed it a bit to hard, causing it to fly out of her hand.

"Ah shit, I dropped the soap," she giggled to herself as she bent over to pick it up, "At least I'm not in prison he he."

With the soap in hand she worked it over body, making sure not to miss anything. When she was finished she needed to wash her hair. Finding shampoo in the same recess that she found the soap, she put a little bit in her hand and began to work it through her hair. After she was done she noticed a lever. 'Wonder what this does?' Kitsune thought to herself as she reached for it. When she pulled the lever she felt two streams of water flowing onto her from the sides of the shower. 'Holy shit he has one of these?' Kitsune thought to herself as the water cascaded over body. She loved the feeling of the water.

"Now if he had a shower wand this place would be complete. A girl can have fun with one of those."

----

Keitaro arrived home, looking around to see if anyone else was up. He knew Motoko would be up due to her training but he didn't see her. Shinobu would be up to make breakfast soon, but Su, Sarah, and Kitsune were probably still asleep. The latter sleeping off the effects of the previous night. Quietly Keitaro walked up the stairs to his room. Reaching it he stripped down to the buff and grabbed a clean pair of underwear from his dresser. Throwing them over his shoulder he walked into his study. Stopping for a moment when he heard running water. As soon as he heard it, it stopped. 'Must of been my imagination, none of the girls know I have a shower' Keitaro thought as he walked into his bathroom. What laid before him was something that wasn't a new experience but one that usually ended in pain. Kitsune was standing in his bathroom dripping wet and naked.

----

Kitsune didn't hear the door open when she climbed out of the shower. When she saw Keitaro standing there, hanging out for all the world to see, she couldn't say anything. She looked at his face for a moment before her curiosity got the better of her. Her eyes trailed lower before stopping at his waist. Seeing what he was packing caused her to blush fiercely.

"Um, Kitsune..." Keitaro said as he stared at an interesting portion of the wall.

Hearing his voice brought her back to the moment. Looking down she realized she was still naked.

----

"Eek!" the fox eyed squealed as she ran by Keitaro.

Keitaro turned to watch her run through to his room. A moment later a crash and the sound of broken glass could be heard before the slamming of his door.

"Damn it, I liked that lamp too" Keitaro said to himself with a smile before he climbed into the shower.

----

Kitsune's heart was beating a mile a minute. She didn't think she would have been found out. A moment later, the memory of what she saw decided to make itself known in her mind. 'My god why did he have to be naked?' she screamed to herself mentally. While Keitaro wasn't huge by any means, he packed a bit more than your average Japanese male. Let's just say it was enough to leave quite an impression on our resident hell raiser. Kitsune blushed wildly at the thought of Keitaro's 'thing'. Kitsune ran over to her shelf, grabbing a bottle of clear liquid with the only marking a lightning bolt. Pulling out the stopper she took a big swig from the bottle. Resulting in one hell of a coughing fit. A fit that lasted a few minutes but came to an abrupt stop when a knock was heard at her door.

"Eeep!"

Rushing about, Kitsune noticed she was still naked. Running over to her dresser she grabbed the first thing she saw, which coincidently was another one of Keitaro's shirts. Making sure that she was covered, she walked over to her door.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"It's Keitaro, may I come in?"

The girl elicited the second yelp of the morning. 'What could he want? My god is he going to evict me? What about my booze, my wonderful booze. It needs a proper a home, the streets are no place for good liquor' Kitsune thought as she flapped her arms wildly.

"Kitsune I'm coming in."

The sound of her door sliding opening was enough for her to stop her manic motions. Trying to compose herself in a sense of normalcy she greeted her neighbor.

"What brings you over to Kitsune country, my dear boy?" she asked him.

"It's about earlier," Keitaro said with a look of seriousness.

The memory of Keitaro nude flashed briefly in Kitsune's mind, causing her to blush once more.

"About that Keitaro, I'm sorry for using your bathroom without permission."

"Don't worry about, just don't tell the others. If they knew this old dump had a shower I would have no peace. Wait a second, isn't that one of my shirts?"

"I don't," she glanced nervously from side to side, "know what your talking about."

Keitaro looked at her for a moment, before stepping behind her quickly and reached for the tag in the neck of it. Under the how to wash directions were his initials.

"I knew that was one of my shirts. I thought Su torched it last time she set me on fire."

'Damn it, found out' Kitsune thought to herself.

"Never mind about that, I came here to apologize to you."

"Apologize?"

"I'm sorry for being a recluse for the past few weeks. I needed some alone time."

"Alone time eh?" Kitsune couldn't let this opportunity pass, "Well that would explain those callouses on your hands."

"Huh?"

Keitaro was oblivious to the nature of Kitsune's comment of course and kept with the prior conversation.

"I'm sorry for not being around for you guys. I wouldn't be surprised if you all hate me now."

"Keitaro sit down" she didn't give him a chance to react before she pushed him down onto her couch, taking a seat on the opposite end.

"Keitaro let me tell you something," she pulled her legs up till she sat Indian style, "No one here hates you. On the contrary, we all miss you."

"How can you feel like that. Naru moved out due to me," Keitaro said in a pained voice.

"Keitaro, Naru left of her own free will. You didn't play a part in it whatsoever."

"Your just saying that to make me feel better."

"Keitaro, I know you can be dense at times but listen to me for once. Everyone here cares about you. I care about you."

Keitaro stared at the woman across him. A moment later he felt something brush across his cheek. Looking down he saw that it was Kitsune.

"You know, Kitsune your right."

"The woman is always right, didn't you know that," she said with a chuckle.

"I guess your right," Keitaro said with smile, "Now Kitsune I got a question for you."

"Hmm?"

"What were you doing in my bathroom?"

"U mm, well...," she didn't like being put on the spot, "I needed to get cleaned up."

"There's a bath."

"I didn't feel like getting ready for bath."

"Is that so?" Keitaro said with a flicker of amusement crossing his face.

"There you got my reason! Anything else you want to know?"

"I think that's it for now. Thank you for your time."

Keitaro got up to leave but was stopped by Kitsune pulling on his arm.

"Kitsune?"

"Keitaro I got a proposition for ya. How bout I help you clean that pigsty of a room, in exchange of free use of your bathroom."

Keitaro thought it over for a minute before answering, "I guess that will work."

"**Kitsune, breakfast is ready!"** Shinobu yelled up from downstairs.

"Good, I'll be up after breakfast, by the time we're done you'll be able to see the floor again."

"It's not that bad," Keitaro said as he left the room, stopping for a second to pop his head back in, "By the way Kits, you shouldn't sit like that. Especially if your going commando."

"Huh?"

Kitsune didn't realize what he meant till she looked down to herself. When she sat down her shirt rode up on her, revealing her female glory for all to see. Once again she was the one blushing like a tomato.

----

Breakfast was rather uneventful for Kitsune. There was bits of small talk here and there with the occasional interruption of Su telling Tama-chan how she was going to eat her. Other than that it was pretty damn boring. Thankfully she finished quickly and excused herself from the table. As she headed up the stairs she stopped at her room to do some quick primping. She knew was going to get dirty but she wanted to have the whole dirty sexy look going for herself. When she finished, she gave herself a quick going over in the mirror. Satisfied she made her way to Keitaro's room. She knocked once, expecting the door to open, but it didn't come. She knocked a couple more times but no answer came. 'Keitaro must be so busy, that he didn't hear the door.'

"Keitaro, I'm coming in," she said as she opened the door.

Keitaro had been busy. His room was spotless. The left overs from his meals had been thrown out and all the dirty laundry had been placed in the hamper. 'Wow, he did all this while I was eating?' she thought to herself as she walked around his room.

"Where is he?"

There was no sign of Keitaro to be found in the room. Kitsune realized he must have been in his study. Quietly she walked up to the door and opened it slightly, hearing the muffled sound of music. There sitting in a chair was Keitaro. Wearing a pair of large headphones. In his hand was one of his cigars and his eyes were closed. Kitsune stared at him for a moment thinking about him in a way she didn't usually think of her landlord. 'Damn he looks cute right now, must be the way he's so relaxed'. Keitaro didn't sense her presence in the room and just sat there, taking a drag and depositing the ash in the ashtray. Not once did he open his eyes.

Feeling a need to cause a little mischief, Kitsune decided to creep over to Keitaro. Stopping when she was just above him. She reached down to the stereo, grasping the plug to the headphones. With a quick yank she pulled the plug out. Music assaulted her ears.

"**Rebel rebel, you've torn your dress  
Rebel rebel, your face is a mess  
Rebel rebel, how could they know?  
Hot tramp, I love you so! "**

Keitaro quickly got up turning the stereo down to a normal level. Once that was done he looked up to see what pulled out the plug. There grinning like a fox was Kitsune.

"The hell you doing Kitsune?"

"I'm here to clean up, but it looks like you already did. When I came in you were no where to be found. What was a girl supposed to do?"

"You didn't need to yank out my headphones. A simple nudge would do," he said as took a drag.

"I don't get peoples fascination with these," Kit said as she pulled a cigar out of Keitaro's pack, "Got a light?"

Keitaro reached into his shirt pocket, pulling out a lighter. Kitsune took the lighter and lit her cigar. Almost immediately she began to cough.

"Knew you weren't a smoker," Keitaro said with a chuckle.

"Aw shut up, it's been awhile ok."

"Whatever you say Kits."

Kitsune gave the man a glare before taking a smaller drag. She wanted to cough once more, but was able to hold it down. Keitaro looked at her with a raised eyebrow as she exhaled through her nose.

"So Kitsune, since I cleaned up my room, is there any reason why your here?"

"Bored mostly, wanted a little company," she said as she pulled a bottle of sake out of god knows where.

"Little early to be drinking isn't it?"

"pshaw, any time can be drinking time. Now are you going to sit there and stare or you going to help me kill this bottle?"

Keitaro stared at her for a moment and decided to go against his better judgment.

"Let me see that bottle," Keitaro said, pulling the bottle out of Kitsune's hands and taking a swig.

----

An hour later, both were drunk of their asses. Keitaro could feel himself becoming drowsy and Kitsune was singing to the music. She was so off key that Keitaro was waiting for his glasses his glasses to crack.

"Boys, boys, its a sweet thing

Boys, boys, its a sweet thing, sweet thing

If you want it, boys, get it here, thing

'Cause hope, boys, is a cheap thing, cheap thing"

"Kitsune, I believe you have had too much to drink?" Keitaro said as he fell out of his chair and on top of Kitsune. They stared at each other for a moment before Kitsune did the unexpected. She reached up and pulled Keitaro into a deep kiss. Keitaro being in such a drunken state could only return the action. After a few minutes they separated. Kitsune looked at Keitaro for a moment before totally killing the mood.

"I think I get study room privileges now.," she said as grinned.

All Keitaro could do was fall backward, resulting in his head smacking the record chest, rewarding him with the sweet embrace of unconsciousness.

----

A/N: Well another story done by a chain smoker. As I always say reviews are welcome. I work better when I have an idea of what people would like to see (as long as it's within reason). Also I'm going to put a little musical trivia into each chapter. This chapter being the first of the story, there is of course a bit a trivia to be found. The question? Simple, what's the album that Kitsune pulls out and ends up listening to. There is three clues.


End file.
